THIASOI is a term in Greek religious cults that designates the followers or adherents of a deity who, as a more or less formally organized group, participate in communal and private celebrations. While the Sanskrit root-word dhiyaindhas denotes devout and reverent supplication, the Greek term thiasos has become most strongly associated with the orgiastic and ecstatic frenzy of the worshipers of Dionysos, with features made famous through Euripides' The Bacchae, such as omophagia (tearing animals apart and eating their raw flesh). The Dionysian thiasoi comprise such groups as the Maenads and Thyiads, which during the winter months performed their frenzied dances in trancelike states beyond "civilized" regions (i.e., cities and temple precincts) in the "wilderness," in order to reenact the mythic fate of Dionysos himself (who was torn apart by Titans) as well as to reawaken the god of spring and fertility. While the thiasoi may have...